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Royal Victoria Hospital

Mr. Maginnis: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what factors underlay the delays in treatment at the orthopaedics unit at the Royal Victoria Hospital in December; and what was the average time taken to treat patients with fractures (a) on 21 December and (b) on 11 January. [65950]

Mr. McFall [holding answer 18 January 1999]: The recent upsurge in the number of fracture patients treated at the Royal Victoria Hospital must be seen in the context of a 100 per cent. increase in the fractures treated in the 2 central Belfast Hospitals in the last 10 years. Additional pressures created by a surge in emergency admissions before Christmas and the general effects of the cold weather exacerbated the problems.

On 21 December, 6 patients were treated for fractures in the Royal Victoria Hospital. The average time waited by these patients was 4.6 days. On 11 January, 5 fracture patients were treated in the Royal with an average waiting time of 5 days.

I am determined to ensure that patients admitted to hospital with fractures receive the treatment that they require as soon as possible and certainly no later than the 2 days laid down by current clinical standards and I have taken appropriate steps to achieve this.

Beef Exports

Mr. Walter: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will make a statement on the level of beef exports from Northern Ireland. [64857]

Mr. Paul Murphy: The Government are pleased to record that regular weekly exports from Northern Ireland under the Export Certified Herds Scheme started in September 1998. The quantities involved have been small, averaging around 20 tonnes per week involving 7 European Countries. The Republic of South Africa (RSA) have also recently confirmed their willingness to take NI beef again although exports to South Africa have not yet started.

SCOTLAND

Inward Investment

Mr. Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on his action to promote inward investment to Scotland; and if he must seek the approval of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry before making any offer to a potential investor. [66135]

Mr. Dewar [holding answer 18 January 1999]: Locate in Scotland promotes Scotland's advantages as a business location, working in partnership with the Local Enterprise Companies, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and other bodies in both the public and private sectors. Its resources are targeted on those markets which generate the strongest flows of outward investment and where Scotland's competitive strengths make it an attractive location.

Offers of assistance are subject to inter-Departmentally agreed rules designed to ensure appropriate co-ordination of assistance offered across the UK. These rules are

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currently being revised to reflect the devolution settlements and the revised arrangements will be set out in a concordat on financial assistance to industry, which we hope to publish in due course.

Sewage Sludge Recycling

Mr. Dalyell: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to the letter of 30 September 1998 from the Minister with responsibility for agriculture, the environment and fisheries to the hon. Member for Linlithgow, if he will make a statement on the outcome of his talks with the water industry and the British Retailers Consortium on the recycling of sewage sludge on farmland. [65399]

Mr. Macdonald: The talks were between the water industry and the British Retail Consortium. The talks resulted in an agreement on the recycling of sewage sludge to farmland. This included ending the application of untreated sewage sludge to grass for silage and grazing by the end of 1998. It also included the phasing out of the application of all untreated sludge to agricultural land by the end of 2001. The Government have already announced they will amend the relevant regulations and code of practice to enforce the 2001 deadline.

Urban Waste Water Treatment

Dr. Godman: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will announce the date by which secondary treatment of waste water and sewage will be required under the terms of the European Union's Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive; and if he will make a statement. [66350]

Mr. Macdonald: The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive and our own Regulations require secondary treatment to be applied for discharges to normal waters (i.e. those not designated as sensitive or less sensitive) from communities with population equivalents above 15,000 by the end of 2000. The same standard of treatment must be applied to discharges from smaller communities by the end of 2005.

Compliance with the Directive is a major initiative for the Scottish Water Authorities who will be undertaking capital investment programmes costing £1.5 billion, over the next three years, to modernise the water and sewage industry.

Skye Bridge

Mr. Alasdair Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when the Scottish Office Development Department post-project evaluation of the socio-economic impact of the Skye Bridge is expected to be completed; and if he will place a copy in the Library. [66265]

Mr. Macdonald: This evaluation is due to be completed by the end of February 1999. A copy of the Final Report will be placed in the Members' Library.

Employment (Agriculture)

Mr. Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list for each year since 1974 the

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number of people in Scotland employed in (a) agriculture and (b) ancillary trades dependent on agriculture broken down by region. [66604]

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Mr. Dewar: The available information is given in the table. Due to reclassification of minor holdings in the Agricultural Census, consistent information is available only from 1976.

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Agricultural workers on main and minor agricultural holdings

	Number					Full-time equivalents(8)					Estimated number of ancillary jobs dependent on agriculture in Scotland (9)
Year	Scotland	North west	North east	South east	South west	Scotland	North west	North east	South east	South west	(Ftes)
1976	71,686	14,214	13,972	20,155	23,345	60,537	9,989	12,188	18,083	20,277	--
1977	71,258	13,826	13,823	20,173	23,435	59,891	9,697	12,015	17,959	20,219	--
1978	70,986	13,979	13,576	20,046	23,385	59,391	9,734	11,778	17,790	20,089	--
1979	70,356	14,100	13,407	19,542	23,307	58,556	9,748	11,576	17,346	19,886	47,723
1980	70,041	14,193	13,270	19,446	23,133	57,850	9,675	11,373	17,155	19,647	--
1981	68,187	14,360	12,801	18,437	22,589	56,004	9,702	10,948	16,251	19,103	--
1982	69,075	14,967	13,110	18,355	22,644	56,509	10,174	11,107	16,103	19,125	--
1983	69,232	15,321	12,978	18,190	22,744	56,406	10,373	10,979	15,922	19,131	--
1984	68,433	15,544	12,747	17,635	22,507	55,399	10,451	10,719	15,363	18,866	--
1985	69,056	15,970	12,668	17,739	22,679	55,541	10,686	10,599	15,367	18,889	--
1986	67,749	16,226	12,373	16,927	22,223	54,014	10,759	10,282	14,576	18,398	--
1987	67,260	16,754	12,017	16,621	21,868	53,417	11,101	9,968	14,286	18,061	--
1988	66,899	16,700	11,996	16,367	21,836	53,049	11,108	9,884	14,031	18,026	--
1989	66,145	16,453	11,849	16,095	21,748	52,224	10,955	9,700	13,668	17,901	75,307
1990	67,043	16,735	12,179	16,424	21,705	52,128	10,949	9,800	13,685	17,694	--
1991	66,095	16,638	11,876	16,179	21,402	50,652	10,678	9,362	13,321	17,292	--
1992	65,234	16,527	11,954	15,807	20,946	50,158	10,627	9,478	13,069	16,985	--
1993	64,111	16,260	11,811	15,545	20,495	49,090	10,410	9,310	12,781	16,590	--
1994	65,308	17,206	11,895	15,357	20,850	49,534	10,935	9,298	12,571	16,731	42,500
1995	65,014	17,647	11,817	15,052	20,498	48,983	11,208	9,115	12,272	16,389	43,007
1996	65,764	18,272	11,750	15,139	20,603	49,278	11,532	9,037	12,306	16,403	--
1997	65,259	18,403	11,545	15,137	20,174	48,727	11,581	8,846	12,287	16,014	--
1998	66,514	18,653	11,803	15,711	20,347	49,428	11,756	8,952	12,659	16,062	--

(8) Part-time workers estimated as 0.5 full-time equivalents

(9) Estimates of jobs in ancillary trades dependent on agriculture is derived from the Type 1 multipliers from the periodic Scottish Input Output Tables. This is available only for Scotland as a whole.

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